I made it! I survived another week and am ready to complicate my life in new and exciting ways.
First on the list is refresh the blog with new photos, new posts, and new material. This includes the addition of tabs at the top of the page for the companion website, Route 66 Info Center, and a schedule where I can keep folks posted about upcoming book signings and interviews.
Next is sifting through correspondence received pertaining to requests for information on ghost towns of Route 66. This will be followed by new requests for material in the hope of getting a firm date for the establishment of San Juan, determining what remained of Cotton Hill in Illinois when Route 66 was designated a U.S. Highway, and more information about the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad and its terminus in Ludlow.
As is always the case in these projects one of the challenges is to accept the fact that there will always be unanswered questions. Case in point, the road discovered near Goldroad. When was it bypassed? Somewhere between 1913 and 1917 just does not fulfill my inquisitive nature.
Then there is work on the book itself. Priority one will be coordinating the photographs on hand with chapter designations. Next will be writing the histories of Oatman, Truxton, and Hackberry.
The Hackberry General Store is now an icon of Route 66, the result of its association with Bob Waldmire and the hard of the work of the Pritchard’s to transform it into a time capsule. The town, however, has largely been forgotten.
Granted there is little left with the exception of a beautiful cemetery, a couple tumble down houses, a small post office, the old school, the railroad water tanks, and an old boarding house. Still, the history of this town predates Route 66 by more than fifty years and even has ties to the Garces expeditions of 1776.
As it is raining there is little hope of being distracted by the urge to take a nice long with my dearest friend. So, I should be able to complete these goals by Saturday evening.
For Sunday and Monday, as I usually do, the schedule calls for squeezing fifty hours of work into forty eight hours. So, if I do not sleep or take bathroom breaks most everythig will be completed.
We have church related activities and another chapter of The Indepent Thinker to write for Cars & Parts magazine, truck repair and travel arrangements, a half dozen ghost town snippets for True West magazine and the scheduling of interviews as well as drive by signings. If I somehow get bored there is always work to revitalize the Route 66 Association of Kingman, replace the ceiling fan, finish the living room moulding, hang some shelves, and, perhaps, a bar-b-que if I get the grill clean and ready to use.
